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Mrs Bracey, 54, said that if
successful, the prosecution would have seen supermarkets and other
businesses effectively banned from giving away spare boxes to customers
who might want to carry their shopping or use them for packing when
moving house.

But, following a trial during which
Judge Alex Milne QC called for an outbreak of ‘common sense’, a jury at
Snaresbrook Crown Court acquitted her company, Electro Signs, in
Walthamstow, East London, of breaching environmental protection laws.

A Crown Court jury acquitted Mrs Bracey's firm, Electrosigns, after she was prosecuted for illegally disposing of business waste

‘Packaging such as boxes received by a
company like Electro Signs is not waste when it is delivered to the
company. Nor do boxes become waste as soon as the contents are removed.

Councillor Clyde Loakes, Waltham Forest Council Cabinet Member for Environment, described the outcome of the case as 'incredibly disappointing'

‘If a company chooses to keep and
re-use boxes, they remain the property of the company and an asset. If
the company keeps boxes for its own use but then chooses to give or sell
boxes to another party that is not discarding them.’

Following the hearing Mrs Bracey, a
mother of three, labelled as ‘mad’ Waltham Forest Council’s decision to
spend £15,000 on a court case over a cardboard box.

‘It is a ridiculous situation,
because not only are the council, as the judge said, wasting taxpayers’
money, but also preventing the re-using of a cardboard box, since the
company that gives a person a box could be facing prosecution. The
world’s gone mad.

‘The ironic thing is that the council brought the action against us under the Environmental Protection Act.

‘The council had ample opportunity over many, many court hearings to stop this. It didn’t have to go this far.’

Faisal Saifee, Mrs Bracey’s
barrister, added that the prosecution did not allege the fly-tipping, in
October last year, was carried out by the company, which makes neon
signs, or any of its employees.

Waltham Forest councillor Clyde Loakes described the outcome of the case as ‘incredibly disappointing’.

Mr Loakes added: ‘Our residents are
fed up with people treating our streets as a rubbish dump, which is why
this council has carried out a well-publicised drive to wipe out
environmental crime.’